How to Customize Emoticons for phpFox

This article will focus on customizing the emoticons that are used on your phpFox website.

phpFox installs with a default set of 8 basic emoticons. You may or may not be happy with this basic set.

You will likely want to replace these basic emoticons with something a little more fun or entertaining, or even something more related to your site’s niche.

NOTE: While searching for a new set of emoticons on the internet, be aware that they were made by somebody, which means that someone, somewhere probably has a terms of use for their emoticons. Make sure that you are not violating the terms of use for whatever emoticons you choose to use on your website. The best way to do this is to make sure that you download your emoticons direct from the creator, and have thoroughly read their terms of use statement, as well as copyright notices.

Note that because you and/or your members will likely be receiving money from your website, whether it be from ad placement, member subscriptions, selling items via the marketplace, or some other aspect of your site, you may fall under the category of a commercial website. If so, then you will need to make sure that you are only using emoticons that are approved for commercial use.

phpFox makes it easy to add to or replace the default emoticon set. Go to Extensions then under Emoticons select Manage Packages to view the current emoticon packages.

Deactivating an Emoticon Package

Due to the fact that I find the default package of emoticons extremely boring, I am going to deactivate them. Click the green dot under Active to turn it red and deactivate the default package. If you would like to keep the default emoticons active, skip this step.

Add an Emoticon Package

In order to keep things neat and tidy, you will want to create a new emoticon package. Go to Extensions then under Emoticons select Add Package.

You want to add this new package to the Core product, and select a Name for this package. If you have the new emoticons in a zip file ready for upload, you can import them all at once from this screen as well, if not, you will want to move to the next step. Once you have filled out the fields on this page, select Add. If you have uploaded a zip file, you will be taken to the View Package screen, if you did not upload a zip file, you will be taken to the Add Emoticon screen.

Add an Emoticon to a Package

If you have uploaded a zip file on the Add Package screen, you can skip this step. If not, then you will need to add them one by one. Go to Extensions then under Emoticons select Add Emoticon (if you are not already on the Add Emoticon screen).

You have a few fields to enter on this screen. First, you want to select the Package this emoticon will belong to, then you want to browse to the image file to upload. Next you will create a Title for the emoticon, and create the Symbol that can be typed to use the emoticon. When done, select Add.

Viewing & Editing Emoticons

After you add an emoticon, you will be taken to the View Package screen. You can edit the Title and Symbol for each emoticon on this screen, as well as delete any emoticons you do not want to use.

If you are not on this screen, you can get back to this screen at any time by going to Extensions then under Emoticons select Manage Packages.

Select the down arrow next to the Package you want to view, and select View Emoticons.

You should now see the View Package screen mentioned above.

Now you should be able to add and delete emoticons and emoticon packages.

Author Spotlight

Stephanie Brown

I am a web and graphic designer with 10+ years experience in website design and development, as well as website hosting. I have been working with the phpFox networking script for 3+ years. In those 3 years I have assisted clients with template/style customization and design, addon development, and general phpFox site maintenance.
Outside of the internet, I am a mother of 2 young children, caretaker of 1 old english bulldog, 4 persian cats, and 1 baby black rat snake that decided to slither into our kitchen one day.